16-year-old arrested, sent to jail in Abu Sayeed's murder case

Rangpur police arrested a 16-year-old college student in a murder case filed over the killing of Abu Sayeed, who was shot dead during the quota reform protest in the district on 16 July. 

The arrestee, identified as Md Alfi Shahriar, an 11th-grader at Rangpur Police Lines School and College, has been sent to jail, investigating officer of the case SI Zillur Rahman of Tajhat Police Station told The Business Standard.

"On that day [16 July], when our Tajhat Police Station was set on fire, and [protesters] were picketing, he [Alfi] was caught from the spot," Zillur said.

"The atmosphere in Rangpur was tense that day. Alfi was in our custody. On the next day, he was produced in court. The situation remained heated on that day too. Because of this, we could not verify his age," the police official continued.

Stating that the police were mandated as per the law to not keep arrestees like Alfi more than 24 hours into their custody, Zillur said, "We hurriedly produced him before court.

"Today, the police commissioner called his parents and confirmed that he is a minor. He might be granted bail tomorrow. Sir [police commissioner] has also talked about removing his name from the chargesheet."

Alif's arrest in the murder case of Abu Sayeed came to the spotlight after his sister Sanjana Akter Sneha made a Facebook post about the matter.

The post went viral, drawing a lot of criticism.

In the post, Sneha stated that Alif is 16-year-old.

Sneha, however, claimed that Alfi was not arrested on 16 July.

He headed out for college from home on 18 July to attend an exam. Midway, he learned that the exam had been postponed, Sneha wrote.

"At the time, he joined a procession with friends but got separated from them when police fired tear shells. Later, on 18 July, we learned from his friends that he got hit with a rubber bullet in his leg and that the locals admitted him in a hospital."

Sneha went on that despite looking at hospitals till 10:00pm on that day, they could not find Alif anywhere. Later a call came in her father's phone.

"Your son is in our custody. Your son will be harmed if you tell people about it. He will be released tomorrow. There is nothing to worry," said the person from the other end of the call, according to Sneha.

However, Alif could not be found despite asking at the police stations on 19 July. In the afternoon of that day, Sneha's family was informed in a call that Alif had been sent to jail.

"When we looked at the court documents, we learned that he has been [arrested in] Abu Sayeed's murder case."

Abu Sayeed's murder case

The killing of Abu Sayeed brought nationwide condemnation regarding police brutality during the quota reform movement. 

A case was filed on 17 July by Begum Rokeya University Police Outpost In-Charge Bibhuti Bhushan Roy. over the killing of Abu Sayed.

The case document states, "At around 2:15am, anti-government agitators started throwing bricks like rain from different directions and randomly fired shots from their guns. To disperse them and bring the situation under control, the police officer Sohail fired 169 rounds of rubber bullets from his government-issued shotgun from the APC vehicle. The entire university area became a battlefield."

Regarding Sayed's death, it said, "At one stage, a student was seen lying on the road after the agitators threw bullets and bricks from different directions. His classmates rescued him and took him to Rangpur Medical College Hospital where the doctor on duty declared him dead. Unidentified 2,000-3,000 people have been accused in this incident."